


the spinda variable

by crossroadswrite



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pokemon Fusion, Drabbles Collection, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-29
Updated: 2018-10-26
Packaged: 2019-04-29 21:06:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14481183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crossroadswrite/pseuds/crossroadswrite
Summary: A collection of related and unrelated pokemon au ficlets!





	1. Falling For You!

**Author's Note:**

> hi, i have realized i'm not good at pokemon aus or at writing action sequences but i love pokemon a WHOLE LOT and writing really short silly things is nice to de-stress also i want to see if i improve by writing a couple short silly things every now and then,,,,, so,,,,, i'm sorry for this it prolly gonna be a mess.

“Are we lost?” Yuri asks for the nth time.

And for the nth time Victor replies, “You can’t be lost if you’re on an adventure, Yura!” Which roughly translates to _I have no shitting idea where we are, but I have to pretend to be a functioning adult so I’m not going to admit to it_.

“We could’ve just gone through the main roads but _no_ , you had a _shortcut_. You’ve never even been to Kanto before!” Yuri complains. Potya, his liepard, mews angrily at Victor too, just so he’s fully aware of how much he fucked up. “There are _roads_ for a reason!”

“Where’s your sense of adventure, Yura? Of wonder?” Victor asks, still trying for cheery but Yuri can see him cracking. It’s a disgustingly hot day outside and Victor’s hair is starting to fall limp and cling to his forehead unattractively. There’s sweat stains in his expensive shirt, and Victor is wearing new shoes which much be chafing like a bitch right about now.

“I don’t know, maybe it’s safe and _not lost,_ going through the _main trails_ , and not hopping on some lapras’ back because it ‘ _had a good feeling about this_ ’.” Potya grumbles beside him, supporting his argument. Yuri makes a note to feed her a little extra later.

“Well, you wanted to go on an adventure to try to beat every single league and find new and exciting wild Pokémon, right? It doesn’t get much wilder than this,” he says gesturing around them.

“All we’ve seen is nidoran. That’s not exciting. They’re _everywhere_.”

“I saw a growlithe,” Victor tells him.

“What? Where?”

Victor points in front of them. “Right there.”

Yuri turns to see the little canine pokémon curled up against the foot of a tree, enjoying the shade and taking a nap. It’s adorable.

Potya makes a little displeased meow and narrows her eyes at the growlithe.

“That’s a _canine_. I’m not a canine type of person like you, you arceus-less heathen.”

Potya seems much more pleased with this and rubs up against Yuri, meowing until he rubs her behind the ears. She really is getting big.

“How about that?” Victor asks, pointing up at a tree where a scyther is currently using the blades in its arms to cut down apples, letting them fall on the floor.

“Alright!” Yuri says, grinning excitedly. “That’s a little more my speed. Potya, are you ready?”

Potya meows and jumps in front of him, getting into a fighting stance, muscles tense and ready to spring into action.

“Let’s start strong. Hyper beam!” he calls out, and Potya starts opening her mouth as light and energy build in her throat. The scyther looks over at them, probably having heard Yuri call out the orders.

Good. Sneak attacks are for the weak. Yuri prefers to face all of his opponents head-on with an all-out strong offensive.

Potya releases her hyper beam and scyther manages to just fly out of the way, avoiding it. The hyper beam slams against the tree, breaking some branches and shaking it. Yuri is about ready to give his next attack, when the tree yelps loudly, and then a man falls from it, landing on the floor roughly and startling the little growlithe awake.

“Oh, shit,” Yuri curses, rushing towards the guy with Victor close behind.

The growlithe sees them approaching and squares off, standing in front of the fallen man and growling viciously at them.

The man groans and coughs a little, having had the wind knocked out of him. The growlithe gets distracted enough to turn and lick his cheek worriedly.

“Ah, Vicchan, it’s hot, it’s hot,” the man says flinching and getting up on his elbows, blinking dazedly around until his eyes land on them.

He looks like a mess with his blue rimmed glasses crooked and leaves sticking out of his hair. He rights his glasses and narrows his eyes, getting up with some cost.

“What do you two think you’re _doing_?” he asks, stalking towards them, growlithe close on his heels. “Who let you walk in here with your pokémon? Where are your pedometers?”

Yuri looks to Victor for help since he is the de-facto adult here, even if he’s shit at it, but Victor has his mouth open and his cheeks flushed and Reshiram fucking help him, _every time_.

_Take Victor with you on your adventures_ , they said.

_It’ll be funner_ , they said.

_It’s good to have an experienced trainer with you_ , they said.

Maybe if Victor wasn’t such a desperate gay with a terrible sense of direction he would be of actual help.

“What are you talking about? Why would we need pedometers?” Yuri demands, seeing as Victor apparently lost his higher brain functions.

“This is the safari zone, it’s in the rules, and if you think you can come in here to poach these pokémon-” he starts, cheeks ruddy and getting in a fighting stance, growlithe in front of him, the fur on his back raising and lips curled over his sharp teeth.

“We’re not poachers!” Victor says, finally being useless. “We didn’t know this was the safari zone, and we’re very, _very_ sorry. Right, Yura?”

Yuri gives him a glare. “I _told you_ we should’ve taken the road. Shortcut my ass, I bet we’re nowhere close to Fuchsia city.”

“The safari zone _is_ in Fuchsia city. So we’re exactly where I said we would be,” Victor says, turning to the man in front of them and batting his eyelashes. “Right?”

“And we were almost arrested!” Yuri complains.

“Because you hyper beamed him out of a tree!”

“Well, _how_ was I supposed to know he was in the tree?!” Yuri turns on the man in question. “Why the fuck were you on a tree?!”

“It’s part of my job,” he says and taps the tag on his short sleeved shirt that says “KATSUKI YUURI” and “RANGER” right beneath it. “We have an injured scyther being tended to in the zoo. That one you tried to hyper beam is her brother, and he feels restless if he doesn’t get to see her every day, so I was helping him collect apples to bring to his sister.”

Okay. Yuri might feel kind of bad now.

“We can help carry the apples!” Victor volunteers, a little too fast.

“You have to come with me, help or no help, I can’t let you wander around and possibly injure someone else.”

“I’ll come whenever you want me to,” Victor says, sounding kind of dazed. Yuri stomps on his foot. Hard. “ _Wherever_. Wherever you want me to,” he corrects haphazardly not sounding even a little bit apologetic for his slip.

“R-right.” Katsuki says, turning on his heel and not looking at either of them. “Start putting those apples in that basket over there. I left something in the tree,” he orders, not looking back before starting to climb up the tree.

Victor sighs dopily, eyes trained on Katsuki’s ass. Yuri stomps on him again.

“Snap out of it. You’re an _embarrassment_ ,” Yuri hisses. Liepard makes a little agreeing noise. “See, even Potya thinks so.”

“But he’s so pretty,” Victor sighs. “And I could _swear_ I know him from somewhere.”

“Just put these stupid apples in the basket before we get into any more trouble. If you ruin my chances at participating in the Indigo League I’ll _kill you_ ,” Yuri tells him and starts leaning down to throw apples in the nearby basket. Potya pads around and helps as much as she can because she is a good, well-trained liepard.

They have cleared most of the apples when Katuski jumps back down from the tree with a small backpack on his shoulders and a dratini curled around his neck. Its tail drops down over one of Katsuki’s shoulders and wiggles a little, and its body does a full loop around Katsuki’s neck and continues up so the dratini can rest its head on top of Yuuri’s. It makes a little chirping sound when it sees them.

And has Yuri mention that it’s pink? Because it’s _pink_.

“Oh, you’re almost done,” Katsuki says, sounding pleasantly surprised. “Thank you.”

“There’s a dratini on your head,” he says.

“This is Sakura,” Yuuri says and pats the tail that hangs down his shoulder. That is the longest hecking dratini Yuri has ever seen in his life. “She likes to be tall.”

Sakura makes another little chirping sound to greet them.

“It’s pink,” he says dumbly.

“Oh. Yes! We have absolutely no idea why!” Katsuki says, sounding excited. “Isn’t it neat? There are records of pokémon having a colour variant of their regular ones that is outside of seasonal coat changes or geographical variants!” He pushes his glasses up his nose. “There’s some really interesting scientific studies about what causes this type of gene mutation.”

“Oh good,” Yuri says flatly, trying very hard not to show how fucking cool he thinks this is. “You’re a nerd.”

Katsuki shuts his mouth with a click, looking a little embarrassed. “Sorry. You don’t want to hear about this. Let’s go. I know the fastest way back to the entrance. We won’t get lost.”

“That’s impossible,” Victor says, straightening up from collecting apples. “I’ll always get lost with you.”

“Wha-“

“Lost in your eyes,” Victor sighs.

Yuri kicks him in the leg. “You’re so fucking embarrassing why do I bring you _anywhere_? God! Shut up!”

Katsuki has got really really red in the face. “L-let’s get going,” he stutters out, resolutely turning on his feet and walking away.

Victor catches up to him easily and Yuri lets himself lag behind a little with Potya.

“Do you believe in love at first sight, _Yuuri_?”

Yuri picks up an apple they missed off the ground.

“Maybe you should walk by again. Later, when I’m not on service…” Katsuki says, eyes firm ahead and following behind his happily trotting growlithe.

Victor damn near falls into a swoon.

Yuri throws the apple in the air experimentally, testing its weight. And then lobs it directly at the back of Victor’s head.

Victor trips forward, and Katsuki catches him easily.

Potya makes this sound that’s a lot like laughing and Yuri holds his fist out for her to gently headbut. If he has to put up with this, he’s at least going to make Victor work for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im marathoning the anime, catch me yelling pokemon names at my laptop when they ask what pokemon it is


	2. The Turns of Life!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> concept: victor as N except hopelessly gay ft. The Ferris Wheel Scene

Victor knows what they’ve been saying about him.  He’s not unaware enough that he doesn’t notice how they team plasma grunts “protecting” him have doubled later, he just pretends to be.

They think he’s been compromised, that his loyalty is wavering. They’re wrong. _Of course_ , they’re wrong. And yet Victor can’t quite justify to himself why he ducked his bodyguards and has been waiting at the amusement park in Nimbasa City for almost one hour, when it’s so hot outside his shirt clings to his back uncomfortably and he’s had to fix his ponytail five times now.

He hasn’t been compromised. He’s been observing all throughout the region people with their pokémon and how happy they all are. He’s seen them work together and it makes him question everything Ghetsis has told him since he was a child. Victor has started wondering if pokémon need liberating at all.

“Oh, it’s you!” a familiar voice says, and Victor immediately perks up. He stands a little straighter, heart hammering in his chest.

 _He’s not compromised_.

Yuuri smiles at him as if he’s _happy_ to see him, and starts walking towards him.

Victor swallows. He practiced this. He’s had one hour to.

“You must be looking for team plasma,” he says. Ready to pull Yuuri into the ferris wheel and… do _something_. He hasn’t really planned that far ahead.

“N-not really,” Yuuri says standing in front of Victor and that’s… not what he’s supposed to say. _At all_. And then, to make matters worse Yuuri _blushes_ and ducks his head a little. “I’ve been hoping to run into you again.”

The summer heat must be getting worse. Victor can feel his cheeks burning.

“Me?” he asks, uncertainly, and maybe Yuuri has figured it out. Maybe he knows who Victor really is and he hates him now.

“You’re always running off after our battles,” Yuuri says, looking back up at him. “We never get to really talk and I just think the way you love Pokémon is really inspiring. Not a lot of people question if what we’re doing is right and I think it should be questioned from time to time to make sure everyone is happy, don’t you think?”

“I- yes.” Victor must be getting dehydrated. He can’t breathe suddenly, not with Yuuri looking at him so earnestly. “So you… agree with me?”

“I agree that we should always make sure pokémon are happy and well-taken care of. That’s why professor Okukawa sent me to travel around Unova. She’s studying the differences between wild Pokémon and Pokémon who live with people and how that affects their behavior. Did you know a pokémon’s base happiness tends to be way higher in pokémon who have trainers? The bonds between pokémon and people are amazing! But, ah, you don’t really want to hear me rant about that. Have you gone on the ferris wheel yet? I bet we can see the entirety of Nimbasa City from up there.”

“N-not yet,” Victor says feeling thrown off balance.

“Would you like to?” Yuuri asks, turning shy again. Victor is getting whiplash.

“With you?” Victor asks, voice getting an octave higher, just when he thought his voice was done breaking.

Yuuri nods.

“I’d really like to.”

Yuuri beams and Victor feels his heart stuttering, which is only aggravated when Yuuri takes his hand and starts pulling him gently towards the ferris wheel. He pays for both their tickets and lets Victor get in first.

The ferris wheel moves slowly, stopping every minute or so to let people in. Yuuri is plastered to one of the windows looking around, and Victor stands next to him, a bit uncertainly.

“I’ve been meaning to ask,” Yuuri starts. “What your real name is. Unless you just want to be called Lord V. But since we’re friends I figured…”

“We’re friends?” Victor asks, staring at Yuuri.

Yuuri goes red all over, and very studiously doesn’t look at him. “Unless you don’t want to be. Sorry for assuming,” he mumbles.

“No! We’re friends.” Victor’s never had a friend before aside from the Pokémon he was allowed to play with. “You can call me Victor.”

Yuuri gives him a smile that makes his eyes squint and lights up his entire face. “Victor. I like that. It suits you.”

No one has called him Victor since… since he can remember. It makes Victor feel real, flayed open.

“I’m the king of team plasma,” he finds himself saying.

Yuuri whirls towards him, eyes wide, mouth open.

“But-“ Victor rushes to add. “But I don’t think I want to be. I’ve always been taught that people were enslaving pokémon but that’s not what I see when I travel. I started questioning if that’s true or not. _You_ made me question that…”

Yuuri is quiet for a long time.

“I understand if you don’t want to be friends with me anymore,” Victor says, very quietly. He takes a deep breath, steeling himself.

After a couple more minutes of silence Yuuri says, “You really thought people were hurting Pokémon?”

Victor nods, slowly. “They didn’t really let me leave the palace. I believed whatever the sages told me,” Victor says.

Yuuri presses his lips together and looks out the window over at Nimbasa City and the view beyond. The ferris wheel has reached its highest point and is slowly descending again. Victor is fully prepared for Yuuri to turn his back on him as soon as they hit the ground.

“Then, I’ll have to show you,” Yuuri says, suddenly. He turns to Victor and his jaw is set with determination. “I’ll show you how wonderful the relationships between people and pokémon can be.”

“You- you will?” Victor asks, and it comes out a little breathless.

“I will! We’ll travel together and I’ll show you, we’ll go everywhere in Unova so you can see how wonderful it is. And if you still don’t believe me we’ll travel somewhere else! I’ll run every region with you.”

The ferris wheel hits the ground floor and the attendant opens the door for them. Victor isn’t ready to leave yet. He’s still caught in Yuuri, pinned under his determination and the fire in his eyes.

“Why?”

“Because you’re my friend,” Yuuri says like anything could be that simple. “And you deserve to see all the wonderful things in the world, Victor.”

“Oh,” Victor breathes out, and wonders if this is what falling in love feels like.

“Our Lord V,” someone shouts and Victor looks outside to see two team plasma grunts waiting for them, pokéballs in hands. Yuuri turns and sees them too, and almost unconsciously places himself between Victor and them. “We came to rescue you.”

“I don’t need to be rescued. Go away,” Victor tells them.

They look at each other for a moment.

“We must insist you come with us.”

“No.”

“My Lord-“

“He said no,” Yuuri interrupts.

They look at each other again and then nod.

“If that’s how it’s going to be,” one of them says, throwing his pokéball up, a watchog jumps out. The other grunt follows suit releasing is liepard.

Yuuri narrows his eyes at them and reaches for the pokéballs on his belt. Victor steps beside him and does the same. Yuuri turns with him with first surprise and then delight.

“Two against one isn’t fair,” Victor says, grinning.

Yuuri grins right back and gives him a nod. They throw their pokéballs in sync and get ready for battle.

Victor was wrong. He has been very, _very_ compromised, and he couldn’t care less that he has.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i honestly wouldve figured out i was gay sooner if i was Aware how much ppl flipped over N and meanwhile i was sitting there like Can I See Elesa PLEASE
> 
> also yuuri has been sitting there battling victor until that point and listening to his impassionated speeches like "is this flirting??? am i being flirted with??? he's so pretty idk whats happening??? he let me kick his ass does this mean he likes me??"


	3. We'll Always Have Kalos!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> concept: victor as a rich boy who actually lived at parfum palace with his excentric furfrou loving gay moms and was treated like a prince and yuuri being the son of the Very Nice Couple who runs the daycare and theyre bffs when theyre kids until victor leaves for his journey???

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uhhhhhhhhhhh im kinda done with class which means i absolutely forgot how the heck writing works again so pls hold while i try to figure it out
> 
> also guess who got pokemon x for half price ayyy, cant wait to finish it in five years time because im hecking terrible at finishing games!!!!

Parfum Palace is a beautiful place to visit with its richly and ostentatiously decorated halls and sprawling garden maze that you can get lost in.

Victor’s mothers have worked very hard to make it as tourist friendly as possible, converting it into a lived-in museum of sorts, and making sure it’s accessible to almost everyone. They go through great lengths to make it a cultural center where people can learn instead of an overpriced aging expensive furniture exposition. It’s the sort of place Victor would adore if he hadn’t lived in it since he was a baby. As it is, it’s just kind of… boring.

After years of traveling, you’d think that coming back home would make Parfum Palace feel brand new. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that.

After about three days, Victor had immediately gone back to being bored to the point he almost wanted to make up some reason to leave, go somewhere, anywhere, keep moving until he found something new and exciting that could hold his attention for more than a season. But he missed his mothers terribly when he was traveling, and even if the palace is unbearably boring, and even if being pampered and treated like his only function in life is to look pretty next to the decoration make Victor’s skin itch to _go_ , he’s not ready to leave either.

So he escapes to his favourite café – the same where his mothers had first met and that keeps a picture of them and their matching furfrou on one of the walls – and feeds Makkachin overpriced pokémon treats as he people watches, waiting for something to happen.

There’s always something happening in Lumiose City. That’s just how big cities work. Nothing truly _interesting_ has happened yet, and Victor is growing bored of this too, because as nice as it is having strangers coo over Makkachin and how his fur is impeccably groomed – yes, Victor grooms him himself, every day, before and after bed – and how healthy and beautiful he looks, and asking Victor if he’s _that_ Victor Nikiforov – easy enough to deny, a lot of people try very hard to look like Victor, he could be any of them – his sense of restlessness keeps growing.

His mother says he’s been sick with wanderlust since he was a child, and more than encouraged him to go out and chase whatever unidentifiable thing Victor had been restless for, as long as he always came back home. It had started with Victor getting lost in the mazes of Parfum Palace at the tender age of five and ended with him having traveled through regions and building a name for himself as a photographer – as accidental as that had been.

“Excuse me,” someone says, approaching his table. “Are you Victor Nikiforov?”

Victor smiles, practiced. He can feel his lips stretch mechanical, eyes remaining bored behind his sunglasses. “You really think I look like him? Wow!”

“Ah,” they say, already losing interest. “Yes, it’s really impressive. Did you have work done?” they ask, gesturing vaguely towards their nose.

Victor opens his mouth to answer, but being promptly interrupted by Makkachin suddenly standing up and growling and the distant noise of something blowing up. His head whips around just in time to see an ursaring rampaging and heading in their direction.

Victor pushes off his seat, hand reaching for the pokeballs he keeps in the inside of his jacket, but before he can do anything, the smallest furfrou he’s ever seen runs past the ursaring and skids to a stop in front of it, growling at a fully grown ursaring as if this furfrou didn’t barely reach Victor’s mid-calf. And Victor watches, stunned, as this ursaring flails to a halt and turns into one of the side streets that lead to the center of the city.

The tiny furfrou gives chase, followed by a man and a couple of police officers.

Victor hesitates for half a second before he runs after them, Makkachin leading the way. They stop at the mouth of the side street just in time to watch the biggest snorlax Victor has ever seen in his life – and considering how many regions he’s visited and how many troublesome snorlax he’s run into that’s saying something – jumping out of a pokeball and blocking the ursaring’s exit.

The ursaring growls. The snorlax growls back, louder and more menacing, making Victor and everyone that has gathered to watch at a safe distant flinch.

The man throws another ball up and lets a venusaur out, before he calls out to the ursaring, hands held up in a placating gesture.

The ursaring doesn’t really have a choice but to turn around looking increasingly frantic and panicked at being cornered.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay. It’s okay,” the man says, and Victor immediately thinks he must be crazy to try to confront a _raging_ ursaring with his bare hands and reassuring words. Victor looks at the police officers who seem to be letting a civilian handle the situation.

The ursaring slashes a claw across the air and the man barely ducks out of the way.

“Hey, it’s okay,” he tries again, tone soothing, hands still held up to show he means no harm. The ursaring growls and glares. The tiny furfrou poised near the man’s feet growls and glares right back.

Victor can’t see the man’s face, he’s only gotten a glimpse when he had been chasing after the ursaring. All he can see now is his back and dark hair and his pokémon standing at attention and high-strung next to him. But even without seeing his face there’s something in the back of his brain screaming at him to remember something, a niggling of familiarity that won’t leave him alone.

“I know you’re really scared right now, but it’s gonna be okay,” he says.

The ursaring rears back its head and directs a hyper beam directly to where the man is standing and Victor officially classifies him as having some sort of death wish, even if he manages to roll out of the way before it hits him, bits of sidewalk and dust flying everywhere.

The man coughs. “Okay,” he says. “Bubba, plan B,” he shouts out and immediately his venusaur wraps its vines around the ursaring, faster than anyone could’ve reacted to.

The ursaring roars, struggling against its binds, but the vines hold tight around it.

“Sleep powder, Bubba!” the man commands, covering his mouth and nose with a hand just as shimmering powder falls around the ursaring and it slowly stops struggling and falls asleep. The venusaur lowers it carefully to the floor and unwraps its vines from around it as the man gets back up and throws a pokeball at the ursaring.

The pokeball bops against its side uselessly and rolls to the floor. So definitely not just a wild ursaring that somehow made it into the city.

“We need to take her to the center and look around for an owner,” the man says, turning toward the officers, and now Victor can get a better look at him. Brown eyes, cute nose, ugly blue frames, and a little crease between his eyebrows. And there’s something- _something_ just in the back of his brain, on the tip of his tongue. “It’s probably going to be some kid’s whose parents thought a teddiursa was a good gift.”

The officers nod at him and call someone else to get something to transport the ursaring with.

The man moves towards his snorlax, taking some treats from his pocket and throwing them into snorlax’s open mouth, before patting its stomach and saying, “Good job, buddy.” He returns the snorlax to its pokeball and moves towards the venusaur. He leans down and touches his forehead to the venusaur’s and something in Victor’s brain clicks.

Make the man smaller and younger, with permanent scrapes on his hands and knees. Make the venusaur into a bulbasaur that a little boy tried to carry around everywhere as he followed Victor around Parfum Palace’s gardens. Make him a toddler and peek at Victor from behind his mother’s legs whenever Victor and his own mothers visited the daycare. Make him fifteen and clutching the runt of the littler furfrou in his arms – a goodbye gift before Victor left Kalos to start his journey – big fat tears staining his cheeks.

“Yuuri!” he calls out, heart suddenly beating faster because it’s been _so long_ , and Yuuri had always been one of the most exciting things in all of Kalos, even when they were kids.

Yuuri turns towards him, eyes searching until they find Victor, and then his face breaks into a smile, beautiful and breathtaking like the thrills Victor chases.

“Victor,” he says, almost sighs it out really, making the word sound like _finally_. _Finally, you’re home_.

And suddenly, Victor doesn’t feel bored at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yuuri calls his bulbasaur bubba because when he was a tiny boy freshly imigrated from kanto he couldnt say bulbasaur and instead said bubbasaw and it Stuck. also im a Big Fan of yuuri having a team of big bois except for this tiny runt of a furfrou that is constantly like FATHER LET ME FIGHT
> 
> [ims on the tumblrs here](http://crossroadswrite.tumblr.com)


	4. A Splashing Impression!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> angsty teen storms into a pokemon gym demanding a battle with the gym leader and meaning to kick his ~~idol~~ rival's ass, what happens next will warm your heart!

Yuri storms angrily into the Hasetsu Pokémon Gym, ready to throw hands with that good for nothing of a quitter, win himself a gym badge and rub it in Katsuki’s face until it’s permanently imprinted on his forehead.

Hasetsu is a beautiful place, the mountains and forests make the air feel cleaner, and there seems to be an ever present soft breeze that brings in the smell of salt from the ocean. It’s the kind of place people dream of settling down in, away from the bustle of capitals and high density areas. The locals all seem to be older and are all kind. Yuri knows this because he arrived into the city by ferry screaming for Katsuki to present his ass to him so he could beat him, and was given directions to the gym by very helpful older people who also gave him a couple of candy for his Pokémon and cooed at Potya.

They also didn’t seem to have a problem with Yuri’s liepard being out of her pokéball, which doesn’t happen in many places. People see a big cat and immediately cry about the danger to _children_. Idiots. Potya is an angel.

“Katsuki!” he shouts, kicking the door open. “Come here and battle me, coward!”

The Hasetsu Pokémon Gym is as beautiful as the rest of the city. Behind the big looping archway there’s a garden, carefully kept and curated, with paths that wind around the building, and a pond that flows into a river which loops further into the property. Yuri had peered in briefly while he was trying to keep Potya from pawing at the water and seen it was deeper than it appeared at first, and full of magikarp and goldeen and feebas, which wouldn’t be anyone’s first choice for a pond, but Yuri isn’t going to question the owner’s taste.

Except he is because Katsuki has a horrible, disgusting crush on Yuri’s useless coordinator of a cousin, Victor, so obviously his taste is fucking awful.

“Can I help you?” an older guy, wearing heavy glasses and a pleasant expression asks.

Yuri realizes that he kicked the door to what looks like a restaurant and tries very hard not to go bright red in the face.

“Isn’t this Hasetsu’s Gym?” he demands, trying to keep his composure.

“Ah yes! Welcome to Yutopia Katsuki’s Inn and Gym!” the man says, still pleasant. “I’m Katsuki Toshiya, are you looking for a gym battle?”

“Yes! A battle!”

Yuri is too good to have anything close to a rival, but he would be lying if he said he didn’t want to destroy Katsuki Yuuri for being a coward and quitting as soon as he lost one little battle. Yuri was looking forward to beat him personally when he was still champion, and that Katsuki didn’t even give him the _chance_ to do that, pisses him off beyond words.

Yuri worked for years to get where he is and for what? For his id- rival, for his _rival_ to just up and leave? Disgusting.

He’ll beat Katsuki’s ass to an inch of his life now that he is a lowly Gym Leader.

The man looks down at his watch, and then back up at Yuri, and says, “Of course! Lunch has just finished and there’s nothing like a battle to help digestion, eh?” He motions over a poliwhirl that had been going around with a tray helping clear the tables and says to it. “Help this young man get to the battle field, yes? I’ll go call everyone for the battle.”

“Poli,” poliwhirl says, and then turns to Yuri, motioning with one of his arms for him to follow.

Yuri stomps after it, Potya keeping pace at his side, tail curling behind her as she eyes the food still set on the tables. It’s a testament to how well trained she is that she doesn’t go over to swipe it. That had been a bit of a problem at first.

The battlefield is… not what Yuri had been expecting.

Yuri knew, intellectually, that the Hasetsu Gym was a water gym, but he wasn’t really prepared for the battle field to be a mix of rock, dirt and hot water. He can practically see the steam curling off of the surface.

This might be trickier than originally planned.

He peers down at the water’s surface and sees that it’s quite deeper than he first thought it would be. A gyarados could easily fit inside. It seems there are caves beneath the ground part of the field that allow water pokémon to go from one side of the field to the other without having to go above water.

“We’ll be fine,” he tells Potya who is looking down at the water apprehensively, dipping one of her paws carefully in before jerking it out and shaking it. “We’ve beat tougher people before.”

“Yura!” an annoyingly familiar voice calls out, and Yuri snaps his face up, not wanting to believe his ears.

“What the fuck are you doing here?!” he shouts at his stupid cousin who is hanging off of Katsuki like a limpet.

“Vacationing,” he says cutely, leaning further onto Katsuki. “I didn’t expect to see you around. What a pleasant surprise.”

“It’s nice to see you again, Yuri,” Katsuki says, infuriatingly calm. “How’s your journey been? Have you won all your badges yet?”

Forget a pokémon battle, Yuri is ready to throw hands with him right here right now. He’ll drown him in his own battle ground.

_How’s your journey been?_  he asks, as if he didn’t ghost Yuri when Yuri was expecting a battle with him. Bitch.

“I got to the elite four but _some champion_ decided to fuck off somewhere! How do you think it’s been! Bitch!” he shouts, and then feels like slapping his hand over his mouth when he notices that there’s someone else with them.

There’s an older looking women behind Yuuri, short and chubby and with a sweet face. Yuri prefers not swearing in front of older people. He doesn’t care about people closer to his age, but as soon as anyone is over fifty they’re too close in age to his grandpa for him to feel comfortable doing it.

“Oh you must be the young man my husband told me about. I’m Katsuki Hiroko. You’re here to challenge the gym, right?” she asks, quite pleasantly.

Yuri guesses that she’s in charge of judging.

“Yes!” he bites out, and then because he was raised right, he tacks on a hurried, “M’am.”

“Wonderful! Are you ready or do you need time to prepare?”

Yuri walks to his side of the field and positions himself in an open attack stance, body angled, one foot slightly back so his body is balanced.

“Yes!”

“Such fire,” Victor coos. “How cute.”

“Shut up!”

Yuri expects Yuuri to stand across the field from him, he expects Hiroko to stand at the side of the field, ready to judge. But instead it’s Hiroko who stands across from him and Yuuri who stands in the judge’s place, as Victor leaves his side and goes to sit in the bleachers set up on each side of the stadium for spectators.

“Wait,” he says. “Is this a joke?”

“You wanted to challenge the gym, right?” Hiroko says, and there’s something in how sweet she looks that looks almost… dangerous. A competitive fire in her eyes that Yuri has seen only before in televised competitions as Yuuri climbed his way to the top. “I’m Hasetu’s Gym Leader.”

_What?_

“I thought…” he cuts his eyes to Yuuri who is standing at the side looking mildly amused. Victor is visibly hiding his laughter behind his hand because he’s a bitch.

“Let’s go then!” Katsuki Hiroko says and throws her pokéball up.

A gyarados jumps out and lands on the water with enough force to splash water all over the ground around him.

_What_?

“Each trainer can choose up to three Pokémon,” Yuuri intones. “The battle will end when all your Pokémon are incapable to battle or one of you gives up. Challenger, please choose your Pokémon.”

_What?_

Yuri’s hand hovers over his pokéballs belt. What does he even _have_ that could deal with a gyarados.

There are plenty of rocks around to work with…

“Lycanroc, let’s go,” he says, gripping Lycanroc’s pokéball and throwing it.

By the end of the battle, Yuri is drenched in water and has three fainted Pokémon on his hands. Katsuki Hiroko showed him no mercy and it was… amazing. It’s been a long time since anyone has truly given Yuri a run for his money.

“What a great battle,” Hiroko says happily. “You almost got me. It’s been so long since I could find someone that I could go all out on.”

Yuri is angry that he lost. He’s always angry when he loses, but this time it doesn’t overpower him.

“Thank you for the match,” he finds himself saying, and ignores Victor’s very obvious shocked gasp.

During the entire battle not once was Yuri belittled or underestimated. Hiroko gave him her best because she respected him as a capable strong trainer.

“No, thank _you_ ,” Hiroko says. “Now come back inside. We’ll get you a change of clothes, and we have a hot springs where you can heal your Pokémon.”

Yuri curls and uncurls his fists. “I’ll challenge you again! However many times it takes until I win!”

Hiroko smiles, and there’s that competitive glint in her eye again. “I expect nothing less. You remind me of my Yuuri, you know.”

Yuri pulls a face and pretends very hard that he’s not pleased about that.

“He did much better than I did when I battled you first,” Yuuri says, before he turns to Yuri and says, “It was a great match. If you stay around for long we could have a battle. It looked fun.”

_Fun._

Yuri was decimated by an old woman and her water team. He’s drenched to the bone and didn’t even get to battle who he had traveled all this distance for.

“Yeah. It was fun,” he says, and means every single word.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yura absolutely has the midnight version of lycanroc because he's an edgy child. 
> 
> also if you're wondering hiroko's Full Team is: gyarados, empoleon, toxapex, lapras, slowking and milotic.

**Author's Note:**

> [talk pokemon to me on the tumblrs here](http://crossroadswrite.tumblr.com)


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